Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

Archilochus, the Parian poet, says of Pericles, that he would often come to a banquet without being invited, after the fashion of the Myconians. But it seems to me that the Myconians are calumniated as sordid and covetous because of their poverty, and because they live in a barren island. At all events Cratinus calls Ischomachus of Myconos sordid.

A. But how can you be generous, if the son
Of old Ischomachus of Myconos?
B. I, a good man, may banquet with the good,
For friends should have all their delights in common.

Archilochus says:—

You come and drink full cups of Chian wine,
And yet give no return for them, nor wait
v.1.p.12
To be invited, as a friend would do.
Your belly is your god, and thus misleads
Your better sense to acts of shamelessness.

And Eũbulus, the comic writer, says somewhere:—

We have invited two unequaled men,
Philocrates and eke Philocrates.
For that one man I always count as two,
I don't know that I might not e'en say three.
They say that once when he was ask'd to dinner,
To come when first the dial gave a shade
Of twenty feet, he with the lark uprose,
Measuring the shadow of the morning sun,
Which gave a shade of twenty feet and two.
Off to his host he went, and pardon begg'd
For having been detain'd by business;
A man who came at daybreak to his dinner!

Amphis, the comic writer, says:—

A man who comes late to a feast,
At which he has nothing to pay,
Will be sure if in battle he's press'd,
To run like a coward away.

And Chrysippus says:—

Never shun a banquet gay,
Where the cost on others falls;
Let them, if they like it, pay
For your breakfasts, dinners, balls.

And Antiphanes says:—

More blest than all the gods is he,
Whom every one is glad to see,
Who from all care and cost is free.

And again:—

Happy am I, who never have cause
To be anxious for meat to put in my jaws.

I prepared all these quotations beforehand, and so came to the dinner, having studied beforehand in order to be able to pay my host a rent, as it were, for my entertainment.

For bards make offerings which give no smoke.

The ancients had a word, μονοφαγεῖν, applied to those who eat alone. And so Antiphanes says:—

But if you sulk, μονοφαγῶν,
Why must I, too, eat alone?

And Ameipsias says:—

And if she's a μονοφάγος, plague take her,
I'd guard against her as a base housebreaker.

v.1.p.13

Dioscorides, with respect to the laws praised in Homer, says, "The poet, seeing that temperance was the most desirable virtue for young men, and also the first of all virtues, and one which was becoming to every one; and that which, as it were, was the guide to all other virtues, wishing to implant it from the very beginning in every one, in order that men might devote their leisure to and expend their energies on honourable pursuits, and might become inclined to do good to, and to share their good things with others; appointed a simple and independent mode of life to every one; considering that those desires and pleasures which had reference to eating and drinking were those of the greater power, and of the highest estimation, and moreover innate in all men; and that those men who continued orderly and temperate in respect of them, would also be temperate and well regulated in other matters. Accordingly, he laid down a simple mode of life for every one, and enjoined the same system indifferently to kings and private individuals, and young men and old, saying—

The tables in fair order spread,
They heap the glittering canisters with bread,
Viands of simple kinds allure the taste,
Of wholesome sort, a plentiful repast.[*](Odyss. iv. 54. The poetical translations are from the corresponding passages in Pope's Homer.)

Their meat being all roasted, and chiefly beef; and he never sets before his heroes anything except such dishes as these, either at a sacred festival, or at a marriage feast, or at any other sort of convivial meeting. And this, too, though he often represents Agamemnon as feasting the chiefs. And Menelaus makes a feast on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter Hermione; and again on the occasion of the marriage of his son; and also when Telemachus comes to him—

The table groan'd beneath a chine of beef,
With which the hungry heroes quell'd their grief.[*](lb. iv. 65.)

For Homer never puts rissoles, or forcemeat, or cheeseakes, or omelettes before his princes, but meat such as was calculated to make them vigorous in body and mind. And so too Agamemnon feasted Ajax after his single combat with Hector, on a rumpsteak; and in the same way he gives Nestor, who was now of advanced age, and Phœnix too, a roast sirloin of

v.1.p.14

beef. And Homer describes Alcinous, who was a man of a very luxurious way of life, as having the same dinner; wishing by these descriptions to turn us away from intemperate indulgence of our appetites. And when Nestor, who was also a king and had many subjects, sacrificed to Neptune on the sea-shore, on behalf of his own dearest and most valued friends, it was beef that he offered him. For that is the holiest and most acceptable sacrifice to the gods, which is offered to them by religious and well-disposed men. And Alcinous, when feasting the luxurious Phæacians, and when entertaining Ulysses, and displaying to him all the arrangements of his house and garden, and showing him the general tenor of his life, gives him just the same dinner. And in the same way the poet represents the suitors, though the most insolent of men and wholly devoted to luxury, neither eating fish, nor game, nor cheesecakes; but embracing as far as he could all culinary artifices, and all the most stimulating food, as Menander calls it, and especially such as are called amatory dishes, (as Chrysippus says in his Treatise on Honour and Pleasure,) the preparation of which is something laborious.

Priam also, as the poet represents him, reproaches his sons for looking for unusual delicacies; and calls them

The wholesale murderers of lambs and kids.[*](Iliad, xxiv. 262.)

Philochorus, too, relates that a prohibition was issued at Athens against any one tasting lamb which had not been shorn, on an occasion when the breed of sheep appeared to be failing. And Homer, though he speaks of the Hellespont as abounding in fish, and though he represents the Phæacians as especially addicted to navigation, and though he knew of many harbours in Ithaca, and many islands close to it, in which there were large flocks of fishes and of wild birds; and though he enumerates among the riches of the deep the fact of its producing fish, still never once represents either fish or game as being put on the table to eat. And in the same way he never represents fruit as set before any one, although there was abundance of it; and although he is fond of speaking of it, and although he speaks of it as being supplied without end. For he says,

Pears upon pears,

and so on. Moreover, he does not represent his heroes as crowned, or anointed, or using

v.1.p.15

perfumes; but he portrays even his kings as scorning all such things, and devoting themselves to the maintenance of freedom and independence.

In the same way he allots to the gods a very simple way of life, and plain food, namely, nectar and ambrsia; and he represents men as paying them honour with the materials of their feasts; making no mention of frankincens, or myrrh, or garlands, or luxury of this sort. And he does not describe them as indulging in even this plain food to an immoderate extent; but like the most skilful physicians he abhors satiety.

But when their thirst and hunger were appeased;[*](Iliad, i. 469.)

then, having satisfied their desires, they went forth to athletic exercises; amusing themselves with quoits and throwing of javelins, practising in their sport such arts as were capable of useful application. And they listened to harp players who celebrated the exploits of bygone heroes with poetry and song.

So that it is not at all wonderful that men who lived in such a way as they did were healthy and vigorous both in mind and body. And he, pointing out how wholesome and useful a thing moderation is, and how it contributes to the general good, has represented Nestor, the wisest of the Greeks, as bringing wine to Machaon the physician when wounded in the right shoulder, though wine is not at all good for inflammations; and that, too, was Pramnian wine, which we know to be very strong and nutritious. And he brings it to him too, not as a relief from thirst, but to drink of abundantly; (at all events, when he has drank a good draught of it, he recommends him to repeat it.)

Sit now, and drink your fill,

says he; and then he cuts a slice of goat-milk cheese, and then an onion,

A shoeing-horn for further draughts of wine;[*](Ib. xi. 629.)

though in other places he does say that wine relaxes and enervates the strength. And in the case of Hector, Hecuba, thinking that then he will remain in the city all the rest of the day, invites him to drink and to pour libations, encouraging him to abandon himself to pleasure. But he, as he is going out to action, puts off the drinking. And she indeed, praises wine without ceasing; but he, when he comes in out

v.1.p.16

of breath, will not have any. And she urges him to pour a libation and then to drink, but he, as he is all covered with blood, thinks it impiety.

Homer knew also the use and advantages of wine, when he said that if a man drank it in too large draughts it did harm. And he was acquainted, too, with many different ways of mixing it. For else Achilles would not have bade his attendants to mix it for him with more wine than usual, if there had not been some settled proportion in which it was usually mixed. But perhaps he was not aware that wine was very digestible without any admixture of solid food, which is a thing known to the physicians by their art; and, therefore, in the case of people with heartburn they mix something to eat with the wine, in order to retain its power. But Homer gives Machaon meal and cheese with his wine; and represents Ulysses as connecting the advantages to be derived from food and wine with one another when he says—

Strengthen'd with wine and meat, a man goes forth:[*](Iliad, xxii. 427.)

and to the reveller gives sweet drink, saying—

There, too, were casks of old and luscious wine.[*](Odyss. ii. 340.)

Homer, too, represents the virgins and women washing the strangers, knowing that men who have been brought up in right principles will not give way to undue warmth or violence; and accordingly the women are treated with proper respect. And this was a custom of the ancients; and so too the daughters of Cocalus wash Minos on his arrival in Sicily, as if it was a usual thing to do. On the other hand, the poet, wishing to disparage drunkenness, represents the Cyclops, great as he was, destroyed through inebriety by a man of small stature, and also Eurytian the Centaur. And he relates how the men at Circe's court were transformed into lions and wolves, from a too eager pursuit of pleasure. But Ulysses was saved from following the advice of Mercury, by means of which he comes off unhurt. But he makes Elpenor, a man given to drinking and luxury, fall down a precipice. And Antinous, though he says to Ulysses—

Luscious wine will be your bane,[*](Ib. xxi. 293.)

could not himself abstain from drinking, owing to which he was wounded and slain while still having hold of the goblet.

v.1.p.17

He represents the Greeks also as drinking hard when sailing away from Troy, and on that account quarrelling with one another, and in consequence perishing. And he relates that Aeneas, the most eminent of the Trojans for wisdom , was led away by the manner in which he had talked, and bragged, and made promises to the Trojans, while engaged in drinking, so as to encounter the mighty Achilles, and was nearly killed. And Agamemnon says somewhere about drunkennes—

Disastrous folly led me thus astray,
Or wine's excess, or madness sent from Jove:

placing madness and drunkenness in the same boat. And Dioscorides, too, the pupil of Isocrates, quoted these verses with the same object, saying, "And Achilles, when reproaching Agamemnon, addresses him—

Tyrant, with sense and courage quell'd by wine."

This was the way in which the sophist of Thessalia argued, from whence came the term, a Sicilian proverb, and Athenæus is, perhaps, playing on the proverb.

As to the meals the heroes took in Homer, there was first of all breakfast, which he calls ἄριστον, which he mentions once in the Odyssey,

Ulysses and the swineherd, noble man,
First lit the fire, and breakfast then began.[*](Odyss. xv. 499. )

And once in the Iliad,

Then quickly they prepared to break their fast.[*](Iliad, xxiv. 124.)

But this was the morning meal, which we call ἀκρατισμὸς, because we soak crusts of bread in pure wine (ἄκρατος), and eat them, as Antiphanes says—

While the cook the ἄριστον prepares.

And afterwards he says—

Then when you have done your business,
Come and share my ἀκρατισμός.

And Cantharus says—

A. Shall we, then, take our ἀκρατισμὸς there?
B. No; at the Isthmus all the slaves prepare
The sweet ἄριστον,—

using the two words as synonymous. Aristomenes says—

I'll stop awhile to breakfast, then I'll come,
When I a slice or two of bread have eaten,

But Philemon says that the ancients took the following

v.1.p.18

meals—ἀκράτισμα, ἄριστον, ἑσπέρισμα, or the afternoon meal, and δεῖπνον,, supper; calling the ἀκρατισμὸς breakfast, and ἄριστον [*](Vide Liddell and Scott, in voc., who say, In Homer it is taken at sunrise; and so Aesch. Ag. 331, later breakfast was called ἀκράτισμα and then ἄριστον was the midday meal, our luncheon, the Roman prandium, as may be seen from Theoc. iv. 90-7, 8; and 25: translate ἑσπέρισμα supper, and ἐπιδορπὶς a second course of sweetmeats.) luncheon, and δεῖπνον the meal which came after luncheon. And the same order of names occur in Aeschylus, where Palamedes is introduced, saying—

The different officers I then appointed,
And bade them recollect the soldiers' meals,
In number three, first breakfast, and then dinner,
Supper the third.

And of the fourth meal Homer speaks thus—

And come thou δειελιήσας. [*](Odyss. xvii. 599. This word is found nowhere else; waiting till evening, Buttman Lexic. s. v. δείλη, 12, explains it, having taken an afternoon meal.—L. & S. v. Call. Fr. 190.)

That which some call δειλινὸν is between what we call ἄριστον and δεῖπνον; and ἄριστον in Homer, that which is taken in the morning, δεῖπνον is what is taken at noon, which we call ἄριστον, and δόρπον is the name for the evening meal. Sometimes, then, ἄριστον is synonymous with δε͂ιπνον; for somewhere or other Homer says—

δε͂ιπνον they took, then arm'd them for the fray.

For making their δεῖπνον immediately after sunrise, they then advance to battle.

In Homer they eat sitting down; but some think that a separate table was set before each of the feasters. At all events, they say a polished table was set before Mentes when he came to Telemachus, arriving after tables were already laid for the feast. However, this is not very clearly proved, for Minerva may have taken her food at Telemachus's table. But all along the banqueting-room full tables were laid out, as is even now the custom among many nations of the barbarians,

Laden with all dainty dishes,

as Anacreon says. And then when the guests have departed, the handmaidens

Bore off the feast, and clear'd the lofty hall,
Removed the goblets and the tables all.

v.1.p.19

The feast which he mentions as taking place in the palace of Menelaus is of a peculiar character; for there he represents the guests as conversing during the banquet and then they wash their hands and return to the board, ad proceed to supper after having indulged their grief. But the line in the last book of the Iliad, which is usually read,

He eat and drank, while still the table stood,

should be read,

He eat and drank still, while the table stood,

or else there would be blame implied for what Achilles was doing at the moment; for how could it be decent that a table should be laid before Achilles, as before a party of revellers, down the whole length of a banqueting-room? Bread, then, was placed on the table in baskets, and the rest of the meal consisted wholly of roast meat. But Homer never speaks of broth, Antiphanes says,

He never boil'd the legs or haunches,
But roasted brains and roasted paunches,
As did his sires of old.

And portions of the meat were then distributed among the guests; from which circumstances he speaks of

equal feasts,

because of their equal division. And he calls suppers δαῖτας, from the word δατέομαι, to divide, since not only was the meat distributed in that way, but the wine also.

Their hunger was appeased,
And strength recruited by the equal feast.[*](Odyss. viii. 98.)

And again,

Come, then, Achilles, share this equal feast.[*](Iliad, ix. 225.)

From these passages Zenodotus got the idea that δαῖτα ἐΐσην meant a good feast; for as food is a necessary good to men, he says that he, by extension of the meaning of the word, called it ἐΐσην. But men in the early times, as they had not food in sufficient abundance, the moment any appeared, rushed on it all at once, and tore it to pieces with violence, and even took it away from others who had it; and this disorderly behaviour gave rise to bloodshed. A d it is from this that very probably the word ἀτασθαλία originated, because it was in θάλιαι, another name for banquets, tat men first offended against one another. But when, by the bounty

v.1.p.20

of Ceres, food became abundant, then they distributed an equal portion to each individual, and so banquets became orderly entertainments. Then came the invention of wine and of sweetmeats, which were also distributed equally: and cups, too, were given to men to drink out of, and these cups all held the same quantity. And as food was called δαὶς, from δαίεσθαι, that is, from being divided, so he who roasted the meat was called δαιτρὸς, because it was he who gave each guest an equal portion. We must remark that the poet uses the word δαὶς only of what is eaten by men, and never applies it to beasts; so that it was out of ignorance of the force of this word that Zenodotus, in his edition writes:—

αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν
οἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα,[*](The real reading is οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, Iliad, i. 5. He made them the prey of dogs and of all birds. )

calling the food of the vultures and other birds by this name, though it is man alone who has come to an equal division after his previous violence, on which account it is his food alone that is called δαὶς, and the portion given to him is called μοῖρα. But the feasters mentioned in Homer did not carry home the fragments, but when they were satisfied they left them with the givers of the feast; and the housekeeper took them in order, if any stranger arrived, to have something to give him.

Now Homer represents the men of his time as eating fish and birds: at all events, in Sicily the companions of Ulysses catch

All fish and birds, and all that come to hand
With barbed hooks.[*](Odyss. xii. 322.)

But as the hooks were not forged in Sicily, but were brought by them in their vessel; it is plain that they were fond of and skilful in catching fish. And again, the poet compares the companions of Ulysses, who were seized by Sylla, to fish caught with a long rod and thrown out of doors; and he speaks more accurately concerning this act than those who have written poems or treatises professedly on the subject. I refer to Cæcilius of Argos, and Numenius of Heraclea, and Pancrates the Arcadian, and Posidonius the Corinthian, and Oppianus the Cilician, who lived a short time ago; for we

v.1.p.21

know of all those men as writers of heroic poems about fishing. And of prose essayists on the subject we have Seleucus of Tarsus, and Leonidas of Byzantium, and Agathocles of Atracia. But he never expressly mentions such food at his banquets, just as he also forbears to speak f the meat of young animals, as such food was hardly considered suitable to the dignity of heroes of reputation. However, they did eat not only fish, but oysters; though this sort of food is neither very wholesome nor very nice, but the oysters lie at the bottom of the sea, and one cannot get at them by any other means, except by diving to the bottom.

An active man is he, and dives with ease;[*](Iliad, xvi. 745.)

as he says of a man who could have collected enough to satisfy many men, while hunting for oysters.

Before each one of the guests in Homer is placed a separate cup. Demodocus has a basket and a table and a cup placed before him,

To drink whene'er his soul desired.[*](Odyss. vii. 70.)

Again the goblets are crowned with drink; that is to say, they are filled so that the liquor stands above the brim, and the cups have a sort of crown of wine on them. Now the cupbearers filled them so for the sake of the omen; and then they pour out

πᾶσιν, ἐπαρξάμενοι δεπάεσσιν,[*](Iliad, i. 471.)

the word πᾶσιν referring not to the cups but to the men. Accordingly Alcinous says to Pontonous,

Let all around the due libation pay
To Jove, who guides the wanderer on his way;[*](Odyss. vii. 179.)

and then he goes on,

All drink the juice that glads the heart of man.

And due honour is paid at those banquets to all the most eminent men. Accordingly, Tydides is honoured with great quantities of meat and wine; and Ajax receives the compliment of a whole chine of beef. And the kings are treated in the same way:—

A rump of beef they set before the king:[*](Il. iv. 65.)

v.1.p.22

that is, before Menelaus. And in like manner he honours Idomeneus and Agamemnon

With ever brimming cups of rosy wine.[*](Iliad, iv. 3.)

And Sarpedon, among the Lycians, receives the same respect, and has the highest seat, and the most meat.

They had also a way of saluting in drinking one another's health; and so even the gods,

In golden goblets pledged each other's health;

that is, they took one another by the right hand while drinking. And so some one δείδεκτʼ ʼαχιλλέα, which is the same as if he had said ἐδεξιοῦτο, that is, took him by the right hand. He drank to him, proffering him the goblet in his right hand. They also gave some of their own portion to those to whom they wished to show attention; as, Ulysses having cut off a piece of chine of beef which was set before himself, sent it to Demodocus.

They also availed themselves at their banquets of the services of minstrels and dancers; as the suitors did, and in the palace of Menelaus

A band amid the joyous circle sings
High airs at tempered to the vocal strings;
While, warbling to the varied strain, advance
Two sprightly youths to form the bounding dance.[*](Odyss. iv. 18.)

And though Homer uses μολπὴ, warbling, here, he is really speaking only of the exercise of the dance. But the race of bards in those days was modest and orderly, cultivating a disposition like that of philosophers. And accordingly Agamemnon leaves his bard as a guardian and counsellor to Clytæmnestra: who, first of all, going through all the virtues of women, endeavoured to inspire her with an ambition of excelling in virtuous and ladylike habits; and, after that, by supplying her with agreeable occupation, sought to prevent her inclinations from going astray after evil thoughts: so that Aegisthus could not seduce the woman till he had murdered the bard on a desert island. And the same is the character of that bard who sings under compulsion before the suitors; who bitterly reproached them for laying plots against Penelope. We find too that using one general

v.1.p.23

term, Homer calls all bards objects of veneration among men.

Therefore the holy Muse their honour guards
In every land, and loves the race of bards.[*](Odyss. vii. 481.)

And Demodocus the bard of the Phœacians sins of the intrigue between Mars and Venus; not because he approves of such behaviour, but for the purpose of dissuading his hearers from the indulgence of such passions, knowing that they have been brought up in a luxurious way, and therefore relating to them tales not inconsistent with their own manners, for the purpose of pointing out to them the evil of then, and persuading them to avoid such conduct. And Phemius sings to the suitors, in compliance with their desire, the tale of the return of the Greeks from Troy; and the sirens sing to Ulysses what they think will be most agreeable to him, saying what they think most akin to his own ambition and extensive learning. We know, say they,

Whate'er beneath the sun's bright journey lies,
Oh stay and learn new wisdom from the wise.[*](Ib. xii. 191.)

The dances spoken of in Homer are partly those of tumblers and partly those of ball-players; the invention of which last kind Agallis, the Corcyrean authoress, who wrote on grammar, attributes to Nausicaa, paying a compliment to her own countrywoman; but Dicæarchus attributes it to the Sicyonians. But Hippasus gives the credit of both this and gymnastic exercises to the Lacedæmonians. However, Nausicaa is the only one of his heroines whom Homer introduces playing at ball. Demoteles, the brother of Theognis the Chiansophist, was eminent for his skill in this game; and a man of the name of Chærephanes, who once kept following a debauched young man, and did not speak to him, but prevented him from misbehaving. And when he said,

Chærephanes, you may make your own terms with me, if you will only desist from following me;

Do you think,

said he,

that I want to speak to you?

If you do not,

said he,

why do you follow me

I like to look at you,

he replied,

but I do not approve of your conduct.

The thing called φούλλικλον,, which appears to have been a kind of small ball, was invented by Atticus the Neapolitan, the tutor in gymnastics of the great Pompey. And n the

v.1.p.24

game of ball the variation called ἁρπαστὸν used to be called φαινίνδα, and I think that the best of all the games of ball.

There is a great deal of exertion and labour in a game of ball, and it causes great straining of the neck and shoulders. Antiphanes says,

Wretch that I am, my neck's so stiff;

and again Antiphanes describes the φαινίνδα thus:—

The player takes the ball elate,
And gives it safely to his mate,
Avoids the blows of th' other side,
And shouts to see them hitting wide;
List to the cries,
Hit here,

hit there,
'
Too far,
too high,
that is not fair,
—
See every man with ardour burns
To make good strokes and quick returns.

And it was called φαινίνδα from the rapid motion of those who played, or else because its inventor, as Juba the Mauritanian says, was Phænestius, a master of gymnastics. And Antiphanes,

To play Phæninda at Ph$anestius' school.

And those who played paid great attention to elegance of motion and attitude; and accordingly Demoxenus says:—

A youth I saw was playing ball,
Seventeen years of age and tall;
From Cos he came, and well I wot
The Gods look kindly on that spot.
For when he took the ball or threw it,
So pleased were all of us to view it,
We all cried out; so great his grace,
Such frank good humour in his face,
That every time he spoke or moved,
All felt as if that youth they loved.
Sure ne'er before had these eyes seen,
Nor ever since, so fair a mien;
Had I staid long most sad my plight
Had been to lose my wits outright,
And even now the recollection
Disturbs my senses' calm reflection.

Ctesibius also of Chalcis, a philosopher, was no bad player. And there were many of the friends of Antigonus the king who used to take their coats off and play ball with him. Timocrates, too, the Lacedæmonian, wrote a book on playing ball.

But the Phæacians in Homer had a dance also uncon-

v.1.p.25

nected with ball playing; and they danced very cleverly, alternating in figures with one another. That is what is meant by the expression,

In frequent interchanges,

while others stood by and made a clapping noise with their fore-fingers, which is called ληκεῖν. The poet was acquainted also with the art of dancing so as to keep time with singing. And while Demodocus was singing, youths just entering on manhood were dancing; and in the book which is called the Manufacture of the Arms, a boy played the harp,

Danced round and sung in soft well measured tune.

And in these passages the allusion is to that which is called the hyporchematic[*](ὑπόρχημα, a hyporcheme or choral hymn to Apollo, near akin to the Pæan. It was of a very lively character, accompanied with dancing (whence the name) and pantomimic action; and is compared by Athenæus to the κόρδαξ (630 E). Pindar's Fragments, 71-82, are remains of hyporchemes.—Liddell & Scott, in voc. ὑπόρχημα. ) style, which flourished in the time of Xenodemus and Pindar. And this kind of dance is an imitation of actions which are explained by words, and is what the elegant Xenophon represents as having taken place, in his Anabasis, at the banquet given by Seuthes the Thracian. He says:

"After libations were made, and the guests had sung a pæan, there rose up first the Thracians, and danced in arms to the music of a flute, and jumped up very high, with light jumps, and used their swords. And at last one of them strikes another, so that it seemed to every one that the man was wounded. And he fell down in a very clever manner, and all the bystanders raised an outcry. And he who struck him having stripped him of his arms, went out singing Sitalces. And others of the Thracians carried out his antagonist as if he were dead; but in reality, he was not hurt. After this some Aenianians and Magnesians rose up, who danced the dance called Carpæa, they too being in armour. And the fashion of that dance was like this: One man, having laid aside his arms, is sowing, and driving a yoke of oxen, constantly looking round as if he were afraid. Then three comes up a robber; but the sower, as soon as he sees him snatches up his arms and fights in defence of his team in regular time to the music of the flute. And at last the robber, having

v.1.p.26

bound the man, carries off the team; but sometimes the sower conquers the robber, and then binding him alongside his oxen, he ties his hands behind him, and drives him forward. And one man," says he,

danced the Persian dance, and rattling one shield against another, fell down, and rose up again: and he did all this in time to the music of a flute. And the Arcadians rising up, all moved in time, being clothed in armour, the flute-players playing the tune suited to an armed march; and they sung the pæan, and danced.

The heroes used also flutes and pipes. At all events Agamemnon hears

the voice of flutes and pipes,

which however he never introduced into banquets, except that in the Manufacture[*](That is to say, in the eighteenth book of the Iliad, which relates the making of the arms for Achilles by Vulcan.) of Arms, he mentions the flute on the occasion of a marriage-feast. But flutes he attributes to the barbarians. Accordingly, the Trojans had

the voice of flutes and pipes,

and they made libations, when they got up from the feast, making them to Mercury, and not, as they did afterwards, to Jupiter the Finisher. For Mercury appears to be the patron of sleep: they drop libations to him also on their tongues when they depart from a banquet, and the tongues are especially allotted to him, as being the instruments of eloquence.

Homer was acquainted also with a variety of meats. At all events he uses the expression

various meats,

and

Meats such as godlike kings rejoice to taste.

He was acquainted, too, with everything that is thought luxurious even in our age. And accordingly the palace of Menelaus is the most splendid of houses. And Polybius describes the palace of one of the Spanish kings as being something similar in its appointments and splendour, saying that he was ambitious of imitating the luxury of the Phæacians, except as far as there stood in the middle of the palace huge silver and golden goblets full of wine made of barley. But Homer, when describing the situation and condition of Calypso's house, represents Mercury as astonished; and in his descriptions the life of the Phæacians is wholly devoted to pleasure:

We ever love the banquet rich,
The music of the lyre,

v.1.p.27

and so on. And

How goodly seems it, etc. etc.

lines which Eratosthenes says ought to stand thus:—

How goodly seems it ever to employ
Far from all ills man's social days in joy,
The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine
While tuneful songs bid flow the generous wine.[*](Odyss. ix. 7.)

When he says

far from all ills,

he means where folly is not allowed to exhibit itself; for it would be impossible for the Phæacians to be anything but wise, inasmuch as they are very dear to the gods, as Nausicaa says.

In Homer, too, the suitors amused themselves in front of the doors of the palace with dice; not having learnt how to play at dice from Diodorus of Megalopolis, or from Theodorus, or from Leon of Mitylene, who was descended from Athenian ancestors: and was absolutely invincible at dice, as Phanias says. But Apion of Alexandria says that he had heard from Cteson of Ithaca what sort of game the game of dice, as played by the suitors, was. For the suitors being a hundred and eight in number, arranged their pieces opposite to one another in equal numbers, they themselves also being divided into two equal parties, so that there were on each side fifty-four; and between the men there was a small space left empty. And in this middle space they placed one man, which they called Penelope. And they made this the mark, to see if any one of them could hit it with his man; and then, when they had cast lots, he who drew the lot aimed at it. Then if any one hit it and drove Penelope forward out of her place, then he put down his own man in the place of that which had been hit and moved from its place. After which, standing up again, he shot his other man at Penelope in the place in which she was the second time. And if he hit her again without touching any one of the other men, he won the game, and had great hopes that he should be the man to marry her. He says too that Eurymachus gained the greatest number of victories in this game, and was very sanguine about his marriage. And in consequence of their luxury the suitors had such tender hands that they were not able to bend the bow; and even their servants were a very luxurious set.

v.1.p.28

Homer, too, speaks of the smell of perfumes as something very admirable:—

Spirit divine! whose exhalation greets
The sense of gods with more than mortal sweets.[*](Iliad, xiv. 173.)

He speaks, too, of splendid beds; and such is the bed which Arete orders her handmaids to prepare for Ulysses. And Nestor makes it a boast to Telemachus that he is well provided with such things.

But some of the other poets have spoken of the habits of expense and indolence of their own time as existing also at the time of the Trojan war; and so Aeschylus very improperly introduces the Greeks as so drunk as to break their vessels about one another's heads; and he says—

This is the man who threw so well
The vessel with an evil smell,
And miss'd me not, but dash'd to shivers
The pot too full of steaming rivers
Against my head, which now, alas! sir,
Gives other smells besides macassar.

And Sophocles says in his banquet of the Greeks,

He in his anger threw too well
The vessel with an evil smell
Against my head, and fill'd the room
With something not much like perfume;
So that I swear I nearly fainted
With the foul steam the vessel vented.

But Eupolis attacks the man who first mentioned such a thing, saying—

I hate the ways of Sparta's line,
And would rather fry my dinner;
He who first invented wine
Made poor man a greater sinner,
And through him the greater need is
Of the arts of Palamedes.[*](Schweighauser says here that the text of this fragment of Eupolis is corrupt, and the sense and metre undiscoverable.)

But in Homer the chiefs banquet in Agamemnon's tent in a very orderly manner; and if in the Odyssey Achilles and Ulysses dispute and Agamemnon exults, still their rivalry with one another is advantageous, since what they are discussing is whether Troy is to be taken by stratagem, or by open-hand fighting. And he does not represent even the

v.1.p.29

suitors as drunk, nor has he ever made his heroes guilty of such disorderly conduct as Aeschylus and Sophocles have, though he does speak of the foot of an ox being thrown at Ulysses.

And his heroes sit at their banquets, and do not lie down. And this was sometimes the case at the feasts of Alexander the king, as Dures says. For he once, when giving a feast to his captains to the number of six thousand, made them sit upon silver chairs and couches, having covered them with purple covers. And Hegesander says that it was not the custom in Macedonia for any one to lie down at a banquet, unless he had slain a boar which had escaped beyond the line of nets; but with that exception, every one sat at supper. And so Cassander, when he was thirty-five years of age, supped with his father in a sitting posture, not being able to perform the above-mentioned exploit, though he was of man's estate, and a gallant hunter.

But Homer, who has always an eye to propriety, has not introduced his heroes feasting on anything except meat, and that too they dressed for themselves. For it caused neither ridicule nor shame to see them preparing and cooking their own food: for they studied to be able to wait upon themselves; and they prided themselves, says Chrysippus, on their dexterity in such matters. And accordingly Ulysses boasts of being a better hand than any one else at making a fire and cutting up meat. And in the book of the Iliad called The Prayers,[*](The Ninth Book.) Patroclus acts as cupbearer, and Achilles prepares the supper. And when Menelaus celebrates a marriage feast, Megapenthes the bridegroom acts as cupbearer. But now we have come to such a pitch of effeminacy as to lie down while at our meals.

And lately baths too have been introduced; things which formerly men would not have permitted to exist inside a city. And Antiphanes points out their injurious character:

Plague take the bath! just see the plight
In which the thing has left me;
It seems t' have boil'd me up, and quite
Of strength and nerve bereft me.
Don't touch me, curst was he who taught a
Man to soak in boiling water.

v.1.p.30

And Hermippus says,

As to mischievous habits, if you ask my vote,
I say there are two common kinds of self-slaughter,
One, constantly pouring strong wine down your throat,
T'other plunging in up to your throat in hot water.

But now the refinements of cooks and perfumers have increased so much, that Alexis says that even if a man could bathe in a bath of perfume he would not be content. And all the manufactories of sweetmeats are in great vigour, and such plans are devised for intercourse between people, that some have proposed even to stuff the sofas and chairs with sponge, as on the idea that that will make the occupiers more amorous. And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters; and Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrocottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love. Music, too, has been cultivated now, in a way which is a great perversion of its legitimate use: and extravagance has descended even to our clothes and shoes.

But Homer, though he was well acquainted with the nature of perfume, has never introduced any of his heroes as perfumed except Paris; when he says,

glittering with beauty,

as in another place he says that Venus—

With every beauty every feature arms,
Bids her cheeks glow, and lights up all her charms.[*](Odyss. xviii. 191.)

Nor does he ever represent them as wearing crowns, although by some of his similes and metaphors he shows that he knew of garlands. At all events he speaks of

That lovely isle crown'd by the foaming waves,[*](Ib. x. 195.)

And again he says—

For all around the crown of battle swells.[*](Iliad, xiii. 736.)

We must remark, too, that in the Odyssey he represents his characters as washing their hands before they partake of food. But in the Iliad there is no trace of such a custom. For the life described in the Odyssey is that of men living easily and luxuriously owing to the peace; on which account the men

v.1.p.31

of that time indulged their bodies with baths and washings. And that is the reason why in that state of things they play at dice, and dance, and play ball. But Herodotus is mistaken when he says that those sports were invented in he time of Atys to amuse the people during the famine. For the heroic times are older than Atys. And the men living in the time of the Iliad are almost constantly crying out—

Raise the battle cry so clear,
Prelude to the warlike spear.